On Cinco de Mayo, American Dream Still Alive in Lakewood

He had such a good life back then.

Sixteen years ago, Auggie Torres was young, still in his early 20s, and full of life. He served beer, mixed drinks and worked as a bartender at Hard Rock Café in Cancun. Every day was hot and beautiful. Every night was filled with tourists eager for a memory. Such a good life.

But Torres wanted more. Even then, he dreamed about working for a Hard Rock Café – any Hard Rock Café, anywhere in the world – on opening night. He wanted to be behind the bar when the lights were brightest, when the stars were in town. He wanted to be a part of one of those teams that launched a new location.

He got his wish.

In 1996, Hard Rock Café granted Torres a visa and a work permit, and informed him that he would help open the Cleveland restaurant. From Cancun to Cleveland. From summer to winter. From the cradle of family to the isolation of leaving family behind.

“When I moved here, I was freaked out,” said Torres, whose parents still live in Veracruz, where he was raised. “Back home, you have your family and your community, and we are very tied to family. Here, you are on your own. You grow up faster.”

He was on his own a little more after he learned that the new restaurant would not open as early as planned. All of a sudden, Torres had some unexpected time in Ohio. So he landed a position at a Mexican restaurant in Canton and watched lots of television. He wanted to learn English, and what better way, he figured, than to watch the news and listen to the anchors? Than to watch sports and put the action on the field with the words streaming out of the press box? Than to watch American movies with Spanish subtitles turned on at the bottom of the screen?

He did learn English and, after that initial unplanned hiccup, he did work at Hard Rock Café on opening night. Like so many immigrants, he built a new life himself.

Torres is 38 now. He lives and works in Lakewood – look for him behind the bar at Cozumel, just off Detroit Avenue – and is one of hundreds of new minority residents in the city, according to . Whites still represent the bulk of Lakewood residents, about 87 percent, but that figure was nearly 96 percent a decade ago and as high as 93 percent three years ago. Today, there are more blacks living in Lakewood, more Asians, more Pacific Islanders, even more American Indians -- and, yes, more Hispanics and Latinos, including Torres. Nearly 900 Hispanics and Latinos moved to Lakewood between 2000 and 2010.

“It’s an exciting dimension of our culture,” said. “And it’s a noticeable multicultural dimension. There’s not just one culture driving it.”

With population in Cleveland, Detroit and other Rust Belt cities in decline during recent years, Summers said immigration “is important to survival.”

“What will keep people here are economic opportunities, and what will drive them away are a lack of opportunities,” Summers said. “We have to support the energy and industry of anyone who wants to work hard to get ahead. If someone happens to be an immigrant with a determination to make things better than they’ve ever had it before, we’ve got to grab it and support them all the way.

“It’s about effort, industry and making a go of it.”

Torres wanted just that, to make a go of it. Still does. He tends bar. He comes in on his days off. He attends classes in hotel management at Cuyahoga Community College. And he has been an American citizen for nearly seven years now.

“This country has given me everything I have,” Torres said. “It hasn’t been easy, but I’m happy to be here. I’m grateful. You have so much opportunity here, and sometimes we don’t realize that.”

He knew then how lucky he was. He knows today how lucky he is.

Such a good life.